Tas Tarkine mine halted by court action

Construction of an iron ore mine in Tasmania's Tarkine region has been halted by a Federal Court injunction sought by environmentalists.

Justice Shane Marshall granted a temporary injunction on Friday preventing Shree Minerals from working on its Nelson Bay River mine until the matter is heard again on May 21.

Green group Save The Tarkine says it took the action because Shree had started work despite an ongoing legal challenge to federal Environment Minister Tony Burke's approval of the mine.

Conservationists are arguing that Mr Burke breached environmental law by failing to protect endangered Tasmanian devils.

The Tarkine is one of the last homes of devils free of the facial tumour disease that has wiped out around 80 per cent of the species.

The Shree mine is the first of several proposed for the region to be given the go-ahead by Mr Burke, who imposed 29 conditions on the company including a $48,000 "fine" for each devil killed.

Late last year, the minister decided against a National Heritage listing for the majority of the 450,000-hectare Tarkine region, in Tasmania's northwest.

After Tasmania's parliament passed the state's forests peace deal legislation last week, the environmental battlefront could now move from logging to mining.

Green groups have promised a Franklin Dam-style campaign to oppose mining in the Tarkine.

Friday's court decision came as the Tasmanian Minerals Conference, which attracted protests, wound up in Hobart.

Tasmania's deputy premier Bryan Green told the conference earlier this week he did not expect mining to be significantly disrupted by environmentalists' actions.

The court action was immediately condemned by the state's Liberal opposition.

"Bryan Green let the genie out of the bottle when he shut down the forestry industry to keep the Greens happy. Now the extreme Greens are ramping up their campaign against mining," spokesman Adam Brooks said in a statement.

"Enough is enough. We need to take a stand against the anti-everything Greens."

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